Woody Allen Keeps Digging

Woody Allen’s response to Dylan Farrow’s allegations of sexual abuse (NYT) is a must-read, especially when you absorb Maureen Orth’s succinct summary of some key points in dispute. Kathleen Geier thinks the op-ed will only damage him further:

Woody did himself no favors by launching a slut-shaming jihad against Mia Farrow in the piece. Farrow’s sexual history — Woody bitchily recounts Mia’s age when she married Frank Sinatra, the fact that her second husband was still married when she became involved with him, and the possibility that she cheated on Woody with Sinatra — is completely irrelevant to the question as to whether or not Woody Allen sexually abused Dylan Farrow. Woody’s misogynist slurs here were creepy as hell, as were his attempts to romanticize the fact that he slept with his kids’ own sister (Soon Yi). The man is clearly a world class narcissist who still, after all these years, hasn’t the foggiest notion that doing what he did (seducing his kids’ sister) was wrong. It’s chilling, actually.

Jennie Gritz agrees that Allen did himself no favors:

Granted, it’s a bit challenging for a man to empower confused child victims while denying the accusations his own child made against him. But he could have done this.

In fact, he could have gone out of his way to make the distinction, emphasizing that he was disputing Dylan’s story because it was untrue, not because it was recounted by a halting and bewildered child. If nothing else, he could have expressed hope that his family’s sordid tale would prevent other parents from misusing their children in any way—either as victims or as instruments of vengeance.

But Allen didn’t do any of those things. Instead, he made himself appear even less sympathetic to an already critical public. And he made an already ugly situation even uglier.

Alyssa piles on:

There’s the idea that it’s irrational for Mia Farrow to have resented Allen’s relationship with Soon-Yi Previn, her adopted daughter, a rather strikingly myopic expression of the idea that Allen’s self-actualization should be prized at any cost. There’s the exceptionally bitter resentment of Allen’s having had to pay child support for Ronan Farrow, who at the time, Allen believed was his son, a sentiment that’s in keeping with some of the uglier ideas behind men’s rights advocacy. And then there’s the invocation of one of Allen’s neuroses — his claustrophobia — as supposed proof positive that he couldn’t possibly have abused Dylan, at least not in a way that was consistent with the story she told then as a child and has told again recently.

Jessica Winter disputes Allen’s version of the facts:

Dylan Farrow’s allegations did not emerge in the midst of a custody battle. According to Phoebe Hoban’s 1992 New York magazine story, as of early August 1992—eight months after Mia Farrow had discovered Allen’s sexual relationship with her daughter Soon-Yi Previn—Allen had been “prepared to sign a 30-page document that virtually precluded his seeing the children he doted on without a chaperone.” Then, on Aug. 4, 1992, Dylan told her mother that Woody Allen had sexually assaulted her in Mia’s Connecticut home. At that point, Mia and Dylan went to Dylan’s pediatrician, who reported the allegations to authorities. Allen did not sue for custody of Dylan and her two brothers, Moses and Ronan, until Aug. 13, 1992, a week after he was informed of Dylan’s accusations.

Dylan has already responded to the op-ed. Meanwhile, Judis calls Kristof’s decision to air Dylan’s accusation in his column “out of bounds”:

I know that columnists get wide latitude in saying what they want, but I don’t think that should be granted in an instance where someone is being accused of committing unpardonable crimes. I think in such an instance every effort has to be made to be objective, and that includes who reports the story. Kristof, who appears to be a good friend of Mia Farrow, Dylan’s mother, would strike me as the very last person capable of offering a clear and fair view of that matter. That’s not a judgment on his journalism. I’d say this about anyone reporting on a matter where a friend was involved.

Paul Campos’ bottom line:

What seems clear is that a terrible crime was committed against Dylan Farrow when she was seven years old. What will remain unclear is what that crime actually was.

My first take on the allegations is here. Dish readers sounded off here.